Download techniques of investigation and current concepts in the physiology

TECHNIQUES OF INVESTIGATION AND CURRENT CONCEPTS
IN THE PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOCHEMISTRY OF
SEX STEROID ACTION
Many analytical techniques are currently
in use by various laboratories where sex
steroid action (androgens, estrogens, progestins) is being studied in regard to both
physiological and behavioral regulation of
the reproductive potential of the organism.
Experiments conducted during the past 10
years, using the techniques of ablation or
localized hormone implantation clearly
demonstrate that many regulatory functions
exerted by hormones occur via interactions
at the level of the central nervous system.
Direct evidence that hormones do regulate
the functions assigned to them requires the
ability to directly monitor blood levels of
hormone in order to show that hormones
are present at the times and in the patterns
necessary for regulation of the function under study. How does a hormone interact
with its target tissue? What parameters of
this interaction can we measure and how
can one relate these measurements to the
mode of action of the hormone? Current developments in gas chromatography, radio-
immunoassays, and protein binding assays,
methods in electrophysiology for simultaneous measurement of EEG and unit activity, and biochemical analysis for measuring hormone retention by tissues offer a battery of highly sensitive analytical techniques
which are providing new insight concerning hormone functions since studies in the
individual intact organism are possible.
Each contributor discusses a broad spectrum
of studies relating to the technique he presents. This approach should have a wide
interdisciplinary usefulness to behaviorists,
physiologists, and biochemists.
This symposium was arranged by Robert
D. Lisk, Department of Biology, Princeton
University, Princeton, New Jersey, for the
Division of Comparative Endocrinology. It
was presented Tuesday, December 29, 1970,
at Chicago, Illinois, as part of the meetings
of the American Society of Zoologists with
the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
CONTENTS
JOHN A. RESKO
WALTER E. STUMPF
BARRY R. KOMISARUK
ROBERT D. LISK
Micromethods for estimating sex
steroids in plasma: One method
for investigating hormone action
715
Autoradiographic techniques and
the localization of estrogen,
androgen, and glucocorticoid in
the pituitary and brain
725
Strategies in neuroendocrine
neurophysiology
741
The physiology of hormone
receptors
713
755